Hi all
Would much appreciate your input on the Sony A6300 or the Olympus M5 mark ii.
I'm off to the photography show at the weekend and looking at a new camera :-)
Was looking at the Olympus M5 mark II but then the Sony A 6300 reads very well.
The Olympus seems to have a much better lens variety than the Sony.
Also I'm used to the Olympus menu but always up for a challenge which I think the Sony would be .
If I go for the Sony A6300 whats your favourite lens and which do you recommend.
Looking forward to reading your responses ...exciting times coming at the weekend.
I have a Sony A6000 and I would not change it for anything. I have macro lens, portrait lens, short, mid and long zooms. As far as I understand, there is only an advantage spending much more on a Sony A6300 If you take a lot of videos or action shots, neither of which apply to me.
I too have an A6000. I use a variety of lenses. I use my A series lenses and some very old vivitar lenses with an adapter. I love the weight but my one issue is when I flip for a portrait shot the screen often blanks out- I normally flip towards the left since I am a left-handed. If I remember to flip right its okay-just a south paw issue I guess. Other than that, I love it and still learning so much. Enjoy the apps you can buy for the camera as well, motion shots, double exposures are 2 that I own.
I'd suggest spending a little time with each, and see which one "calls out" to you, which one "feels" right... Will there be manufacturer's reps at the show?
I upgraded my camera a few months ago, and a key part of my decision was talking with people at an event hosted by one of the local photo stores. I talked with the camera reps, but also several users who were more than happy to share their experiences. I was also able to talk with one of the session presenters about the factors that drove their camera choices. I came out of the day sold on a camera that wasn't even on my radar going in.
It's only been a couple of months, but I've been very happy with my choice.
sooooo... just putting in a two penneth for the oly mk ii ... i have been very happy with my camera and love the olympus lenses, and that you can use panasonic lenses also, so there's a wide range available. i have also fancied a sony in the past though ... i imagine you'll enjoy whatever you choose ;)
@quietpurplehaze is there a "walkabout" lens such as 18-200mm? I sometimes like that sort of lens when travelling. Or what lens do you recommend thats similar
@lsquared Good idea I will spend time at the show and handle them and see what one I like best.
I don't think there's a bad choice between those two.
For what it's worth, the a6300 is great in low light and the Sony Zeiss 16-70mm F4 is probably the best walkabout lens I've ever owned in terms of weight and image quality.
I think the only negative is Sony have largely abandoned making lightweight 'crop sensor' lenses for their E-mount range. Most - if not all - of their new lenses are aimed at the full frame A7x series and are very heavy - defeating the point of a light crop sensor mirrorless camera. I have the Sigma EF-E adaptor so I can still use all my Canon lenses on it too with autofocus fast enough for motor-racing and ice hockey.
I'm hoping one of the other lens manufacturers will pick up the baton for Sony E-mount crop in the "above kit lens but below G-series weight/money" gap in the market.
oh, and loopy-lou, i guess you're talking about the photography show in birmingham? i went last year but can't make it this time. maybe we can meet there next year if you often go??? i did find it an expensive day out though :) look forward to hearing what you decide ...
For my walkabout lens with the Sony A6000, I love the 30mm macro lens. It takes great macros and also is good for ‘walkabouts’. The stabilisation for the A6000 is in the lens. I was horrified when I took delivery of this macro lens to find it has no stabilisation. However, I have found it no problem and find it is an excellent sharp lens and I can crop photos quite a bit if necessary.
The 16-50mm lens is also good and a great all-purpose lens is the 18-105mm which has f4 throughout the zoom.
@humphreyhippo thank you so much, very much appreciated @pistache yes it is the Birmingham show, was supposed to go last year but hubby got called away on business so going this year. It certainly is an expensive day out but a good one 😄 But will probably miss next as off to Japan for my 50th
@quietpurplehaze Thank you so much Hazel very much appreciated decisions decisions wonder what I’ll come back with. I’m going to have a look and hopefully play and handle one at the show. As you say I’ll probably look at the a6000 and put the extra I was spending on the a6300 to a lens or two. 😄
oooooh cool! always fun to be contemplating new toys!!!
i have never tried the sony A6000 series, but i did have the nex7 which i think may have been the precursor... i did not love it... the menu system drove me crazy and there were things that i wanted to control that i couldn't... i have to confess that i don't quite recall the details... the lack of lens choices was an issue for me - although i did have the lens @humphreyhippo mentioned and I have to agree it was the best thing...
anyhow... at some point i got fed up with the sony's user interface and lack of ease around certain creative controls i wanted, and went for the oly M5II and i love it... lots of lens choices, plus it seemed to me it gave me lots more creative control... image quality, even at quite high iSO is great... it's water resistant (i think the Sony A6000 series is as well, but the nex7 was not), sturdy and generally intuitive... the one thing i would change if i could is that the screen and EVF don't give you wysiwyg... rather, it gives you more or less what it thinks the correct exposure is, regardless of your settings... so if you're like me, and only somewhat interested in "correct" exposure, this is a bit of a challenge... however, it's absolutely fine for walking around, and i've adjusted to the issue when using the camera creatively (e.g.: for long exposures)...
I rented the Sony 6300 last summer as a test as I was hoping to move to mirrorless then. As @northy said, the menu system drove me crazy. It's multiple embedded menus made the system feel very clunky. I'm guessing, however, that (a) you'd get used to it and (b) there are ways to customize so that you can control the menu more easily. The quality of the photos was reliably great using the Sony lens I rented with it - probably a mid-range one, but can't remember which one. What a wonderful dilemma to be sorting out!
I understand what you say about the menu of the A6000 which does receive a certain amount of flak in reviews. However, the fn button on the back of the camera allows easy and quick access to many functions.
@northy@taffy The Sony interface improved significantly on the a6300 from what came before - though I think it depends on which brands you've used previously. Compared to a Canon (who have user interface totally nailed imho), the Sony is still a nightmare. Compared to Fuji... it's about the same but with different quirks.
The a6300 benefits greatly from spending time setting it up for how you use it. Between the Fn function button and the memory modes, I barely use the menu system anymore.
@northy@taffy Thank you so much for replying, very much appreciated, nothing would have been more annoying to get a camera and it been a pain and frustrating which seems like the sony one would be. @northy what are you favourite lens that you use with the olympus? Have you used the 9-18mm Olympus lens?
One major advantage that the Oly has over the Sony is 5 point image stabilisation... the Sony A6500 does have this feature however - don't dismiss it out of hand, it's an awesome feature.
@bizziebeeme ha! all of them ;p j/k... but i am a bit of a lens ho'... and which lens i take with me when i'm going out depends on what and where i think i will be shooting, as well as how i'm feeling that day...
if i'm feeling tired and uninspired i might end up taking the mega cheap 25mm (nifty fifty equivalent) just because it's extremely light... and i recently picked up a pancake 14-42 on sale which is also extremely compact and light and as a result i am now carrying my camera around a bit more...
i also have 3 pro series lenses (12-40, 40-150, 12-100) which are all wonderful in their own way - but not necessarily light... which one i carry depends on where i'll be and what i want to shoot... the 12-40 is a really good basic lens and is, of course the lightest of the bunch... obviously it doesn't have the reach of the other two, but zoom isn't always required...
i don't have the 9-18mm but i do have a fisheye which is fun to play around with every once in a while...
btw, if i recall correctly, the sony has lots more megapixels than the oly... however, i have to say that i've been extremely pleased with the image quality of the oly at high ISO, despite lower MP...
I always look at lenses first and then decide on camera body. For my "travel light" kit I have the Olympus 9-18mm and the Panasonic 14-140mm (35mm eq. to 18 to 280mm). With these lenses you can chose whatever Olympus or Panasonic MFT camera body you like. Very flexible and very light and compact to carry around.
The Sony camera bodies are also very light and compact, but the lenses can get quite large and some combinations seems a little bit "unbalanced" (front heavy) to me.
@bizziebeeme I use the 9-18mm for almost everything, mostly landscapes but also street, architecture and interiors. It is a very nice lens. Emily at Micro Four Nerds likes it too :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZZCkN_OY_8
@northy thank you so much for all your help. Had a great time at the show. I went in mind with going for the M5ii with the 14-42mm lens. But ended up purchasing m5ii with the 12-100mm pro lens and also the 25mm well who can resist a bargain when show deals are around. Thank you so much it made me choosing a lot easier :-) Just have to wait until Tuesday to play with it :-( when it’s been delivered but can play with the 25mm as they had that in stock.
@bizziebeeme mostly I don’t bother with filters although I do use lens protectors... (I have circular polarizers but haven’t bothered with them in a while)... I don’t pay too much attention to the brands - I think I have some Hoya, some Cameron and some others which I don’t quite recall the names of...
Congrats on the new toy! I’m sure you’re going to have a ton of fun with it 🙂
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I have a Sony A6000 and I would not change it for anything. I have macro lens, portrait lens, short, mid and long zooms. As far as I understand, there is only an advantage spending much more on a Sony A6300 If you take a lot of videos or action shots, neither of which apply to me.
I upgraded my camera a few months ago, and a key part of my decision was talking with people at an event hosted by one of the local photo stores. I talked with the camera reps, but also several users who were more than happy to share their experiences. I was also able to talk with one of the session presenters about the factors that drove their camera choices. I came out of the day sold on a camera that wasn't even on my radar going in.
It's only been a couple of months, but I've been very happy with my choice.
@quietpurplehaze is there a "walkabout" lens such as 18-200mm? I sometimes like that sort of lens when travelling. Or what lens do you recommend thats similar
@lsquared Good idea I will spend time at the show and handle them and see what one I like best.
@joysabin Thank you lots to think about,
@pistache Olympus M5ii was my first choice but then come across the Sony A6300 ..Oh decisions.
For what it's worth, the a6300 is great in low light and the Sony Zeiss 16-70mm F4 is probably the best walkabout lens I've ever owned in terms of weight and image quality.
I think the only negative is Sony have largely abandoned making lightweight 'crop sensor' lenses for their E-mount range. Most - if not all - of their new lenses are aimed at the full frame A7x series and are very heavy - defeating the point of a light crop sensor mirrorless camera. I have the Sigma EF-E adaptor so I can still use all my Canon lenses on it too with autofocus fast enough for motor-racing and ice hockey.
I'm hoping one of the other lens manufacturers will pick up the baton for Sony E-mount crop in the "above kit lens but below G-series weight/money" gap in the market.
For my walkabout lens with the Sony A6000, I love the 30mm macro lens. It takes great macros and also is good for ‘walkabouts’. The stabilisation for the A6000 is in the lens. I was horrified when I took delivery of this macro lens to find it has no stabilisation. However, I have found it no problem and find it is an excellent sharp lens and I can crop photos quite a bit if necessary.
The 16-50mm lens is also good and a great all-purpose lens is the 18-105mm which has f4 throughout the zoom.
@pistache yes it is the Birmingham show, was supposed to go last year but hubby got called away on business so going this year. It certainly is an expensive day out but a good one 😄 But will probably miss next as off to Japan for my 50th
i have never tried the sony A6000 series, but i did have the nex7 which i think may have been the precursor... i did not love it... the menu system drove me crazy and there were things that i wanted to control that i couldn't... i have to confess that i don't quite recall the details... the lack of lens choices was an issue for me - although i did have the lens @humphreyhippo mentioned and I have to agree it was the best thing...
anyhow... at some point i got fed up with the sony's user interface and lack of ease around certain creative controls i wanted, and went for the oly M5II and i love it... lots of lens choices, plus it seemed to me it gave me lots more creative control... image quality, even at quite high iSO is great... it's water resistant (i think the Sony A6000 series is as well, but the nex7 was not), sturdy and generally intuitive... the one thing i would change if i could is that the screen and EVF don't give you wysiwyg... rather, it gives you more or less what it thinks the correct exposure is, regardless of your settings... so if you're like me, and only somewhat interested in "correct" exposure, this is a bit of a challenge... however, it's absolutely fine for walking around, and i've adjusted to the issue when using the camera creatively (e.g.: for long exposures)...
anyway - have fun deciding!!!
I understand what you say about the menu of the A6000 which does receive a certain amount of flak in reviews. However, the fn button on the back of the camera allows easy and quick access to many functions.
The a6300 benefits greatly from spending time setting it up for how you use it. Between the Fn function button and the memory modes, I barely use the menu system anymore.
@northy what are you favourite lens that you use with the olympus? Have you used the 9-18mm Olympus lens?
if i'm feeling tired and uninspired i might end up taking the mega cheap 25mm (nifty fifty equivalent) just because it's extremely light... and i recently picked up a pancake 14-42 on sale which is also extremely compact and light and as a result i am now carrying my camera around a bit more...
i also have 3 pro series lenses (12-40, 40-150, 12-100) which are all wonderful in their own way - but not necessarily light... which one i carry depends on where i'll be and what i want to shoot... the 12-40 is a really good basic lens and is, of course the lightest of the bunch... obviously it doesn't have the reach of the other two, but zoom isn't always required...
i don't have the 9-18mm but i do have a fisheye which is fun to play around with every once in a while...
btw, if i recall correctly, the sony has lots more megapixels than the oly... however, i have to say that i've been extremely pleased with the image quality of the oly at high ISO, despite lower MP...
The Sony camera bodies are also very light and compact, but the lenses can get quite large and some combinations seems a little bit "unbalanced" (front heavy) to me.
Sorry another question do you use Hoya filters?
Congrats on the new toy! I’m sure you’re going to have a ton of fun with it 🙂